Faculty Learning Communities

Are you interested in receiving peer feedback on innovative teaching strategies you're using or considering implementing? Would you like opportunities to meet and collaborate with faculty from across the campus? 

• Faculty learning communities (FLCs) help enhance a sense of community among faculty and offer opportunities for interdisciplinary connections, collaborations, and discussions about teaching and learning.
• FLCs can provide effective “deep learning” that encourages and supports faculty members to investigate, attempt, assess, and adopt new methods of teaching.
• Faculty learning communities (each consisting of about 8-12 USI faculty) will meet approximately every three weeks during the semester.
• Each FLC will focus on a topic (e.g., promoting student engagement, effective teaching practices, teaching with technology, fostering creativity, experiential learning, distance learning).
• The faculty learning community (FLC), led by its faculty facilitator(s), determines its own schedule and activities but may choose to discuss selected readings, share ideas and projects, solicit peer feedback, and attend activities together.
• FLCs typically are either theoretical and discussion-based or project-based. 
• Each FLC member is encouraged to identify a particular product or project he/she will work on and share with the FLC.  Just a few examples could include: incorporating experiential learning activities into course curriculum; designing a new course or enhancing an existing course; developing new assessment tools for a course; or implementing new technology applications in your teaching.
• For the FLC to be successful, each member should commit to active participation (at least 75% attendance of FLC meetings & activities) and contribute to discussions.
• What is a Faculty Learning Community

• Interdisciplinary Teaching and Research - Fall 2016-Spring 2017
• Service learning
• Collaborative learning environments
• Flipped learning
• Blended and hybrid learning
• Technology enhanced learning
• Additional topics are identified based on the interests of faculty

• Department and program chairs
• Additional topics are identified based on the interests of faculty